


TTA: Making Rounds

by KatsInSpace



Series: Time and Time Again [6]
Category: White Collar
Genre: M/M, alternative universe, au where keller wasn't a criminal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 16:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8291956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatsInSpace/pseuds/KatsInSpace
Summary: Neal Caffrey has escaped and they want Peter Burke to go find him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Matthew Keller wasn't a criminal and stayed in Scotland. And I don't really know his history so I'm kind of making it up. Comes after Four Years. Past Neal/Keller, Past Neal/Kate.

Peter had been overlooking an operation in tracking the Dutchman when Diana had came by, bringing him news.

“Peter,” she said aloud, gaining his attention after he gotten frustrated with the others.

“Yes Diana?” He asked with a sigh, approaching him.

She didn't look very happy. “Neal Caffrey escaped,” she informed him.

-.-Time and Time Again-.-

It hadn't been a good feeling. He'd spent a good portion of his career going after Neal Caffrey, and hearing that he escaped with just two months was a horrible feeling.

“I chased after him for five years and you let him just _walk out the front door?_ ” He asked in disbelief.

“We called you here because you're the only one that can catch him,” one of the officers says, ignoring what Peter had initially said.

Peter sighs. There was no point in fighting this. “What do you have?”

“After he shaved his beard-”

Peter frowned. “Neal Caffrey doesn't have a beard,” he said with confusion.

The officers looked at him. They motioned to follow them. Peter went along with them and into a video room. He takes a seat as one of the officers slip in a tape. This was Caffrey on the last day just before he escaped.

“You wouldn't be able to recognize him,” Peter commented as he stared at the black and white picture of Caffrey with a full beard. For the entire time he had seen him, Caffrey had never worn a beard. Peter stared back at the picture. “Rewind the tape,” he commanded.

Peter watched carefully, seeing Caffrey's beard slowly disappear. “Stop,” he commanded once he saw Caffrey's clean, shaven face. He muttered out the date. “What happened on that day? Do you have record of his visitors?”

“Of course, let me go get it.”

Peter opened the pages to that date. He scanned the list for Neal's name and looked left. “Kate Moreau,” he said with a smirk. Of course it had something to do with her. He had managed to get him using her position. “Do you have tapes of the visit?”

“Of course.”

Peter sits downs, examining the video.

“We need a lip reader,” the officer commented.

“No need,” Peter muttered. He looked at their lips, repeating what they said. He frowns when they hard parted with a goodbye.

“What could have made him leave?” The officers ask.

“Did she visit another time?” Peter asked, turning slightly in his chair.

The officer starts flipping through the book. “Only once. The week after and nothing else.” They pulled up the video.

Immediately, Peter could tell that Neal was depressed. Kate had looked at him with concern. The video hadn't lasted very long. Kate had asked what had been wrong but Neal immediately went with “I don't think you should visit anymore.”

Kate had been confused, asking what his reasons for it was and if she had done anything. But Neal just told her to go.

“He's already started growing his beard by then,” Peter said. “Did anyone else visit him the week before?”

The pulled out the book. “Yes,” they said. “A Matthew Keller. Do you know that name?”

Peter frowns. He didn't recognize that name at all. He watches as they pull the video from the week before. It looked as if it happened right after the other video with Kate.

In walks someone he had not seen before. He was a brunette that seemed a bit shorter than Neal. He was wearing a simple shirt and jeans. And he did not look happy at all.

Neal had initially looked confused, but became ecstatic.

“Hey Matt,” Peter repeated his words. He notes that they must be very close.

It didn't take long for his expression to fall.

“Matthew,” Peter repeated.

Neal had looked desperate while Matthew's facial expression had not changed.

“I think we should break up,” Peter looked surprised. He had never known this man before, but now he was just finding out that Neal and this Matthew Keller had been dating?

Neal look devastated. “Mattie, please-”

“When you get out, don't look for me.”

Matthew stands up and leaves, not letting Neal have the chance to say anything else. They end the video there.

“I thought he was with that Kate girl?”

“Looks like we were wrong,” Peter stands. He knew what to look for now.

-.-Masquerade-.-

Peter finds Neal Caffrey at his apartment. It didn't seem like he was trying to escape at all. The place was very nice. He takes a quick glance around. He sees a bookcase with a bunch of books and paintings hung on the wall.

He keeps quiet, looking for Neal Caffrey. He gently pushes in one of the doors. The closest door on the left had been a bathroom. The right had looked like a guest room. The only room left was at the end of the hall. Peter pushes it open, seeing Caffrey sitting on the bed. He didn't move at all.

Peter watches him for a moment. “They're going to give you four more ears, you know?”

He didn't even look up.

Peter approached him. In his hands, he sees a picture frame. It was of him and Matthew Keller which seemed like it had been taken in Italy.

“He's long gone,” Neal muttered sadly. “He didn't even take any pictures or his books with him.”

“For five years now I've been chasing after you,” Peter says. “And I have never known about Matthew Keller.”

“Doesn't matter now,” he muttered. “He doesn't want to see me anymore.” Neal had looked uncharacteristically sad, something he's never seen him express.

“When was that taken?”

“It was the first country we've been to together,” he answered honestly.

Peter knows that this Matthew Keller character breaking up with Neal must have affected him a lot, maybe even more so than Kate. Neal was acting completely different than he would have assumed was his norm.

Neal stands, looking at Peter. “You got me,” he said plainly. “Where are they now?”

“Surrounding the building,” Peter answered. “There's no way to escape.”

“I wasn't planning on it.”

Peter rose an eyebrow at him. That too was unlike him. Ge then notices that the other man was looking at him oddly. He just stares back as Neal approaches him. He gives him an expression that expressed “what are you doing,” but Neal just acted as if he had no bad intentions. He grabs something, a long slip from his case from before.

Neal just stared at it with a curious face. Peter didn't like it at all. “Do you know what this is?”

“No,” Peter answers. “None of us could figure it out.”

Neal wears a small smile, looking at him. “If I tell you, will you agree to a meeting with me?”

Peter sighs, of course he's going to want something.

“It's just a meeting,” Neal reassured.

“I'll think about it,” Peter said honestly, hearing the agents and police barge into Neal's apartment.

“It's the security strip for the new Canadian dollar,” he says quickly, handing it back before raising his hands. “In a week!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Criticism welcome. My tumblr is ElectronicSpace.  
> Let me know if you want to see something specific in this AU.


End file.
